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Battle Rap Dictionary
List of battle rap vocab A Angle: ' ''Noun. A method of verbal attack. B '''Bar: Noun. Formally, a segment of time defined by a given number of beats in a musical composition. In the context of league battle rap, which is most often unaccompanied by music, the general acceptance is that one bar equals one or two sentences, depending on the speed of their delivery. Bitchmade: Adjective. Lacking toughness or courage, used as an insult of one's opponents. (See pussy.) Body bag (short form: body): Verb. Dominate an opponent. C Choke: Verb. Run out of lines prematurely either because of forgotten pre-written bars or a failure to freestyle fluidly. Not to be confused with stumbling. Check: 1. Verb. Borrowed from sports jargon, aggressing an opponent through physical touch. (Example: Charron and Shotgun Suge's reciprocal pocket checks during their URL battle.) (NOTE: While most battle contracts expressly forbid and sanction against full-on physical attacks, the disdain for less clearly combative touch is merely unspoken. Thus, many battlers will controversially touch their opponents in various ways based on an assumed level of comfort.) 2. Verb. Stop or slow down the progress of an opponent's progress, attack, or claim. Classic: Adjective. Engendering (or expected to engender) outstanding or definitive dynamism, artistry, or character over time, said of particular battles or performances. D Disrespect: Noun. Egregious invasiveness or disregard for sensitive areas in an opponent's offstage life as inspiration for raps. Deaths, illnesses, and the legal troubles of an opponent or his/her loved ones are popular focuses of disrespectful attacks. (A signature tactic of Arsonal.) Don DeMarco: Noun. The sampled namedrop of the DJ for URL events. Earlier in URL's history, when a battler's line got lots of crowd reaction, the DJ played an airhorn sound effect followed by the drop of his own name. This became so frequent that audiences from both URL and other battle leagues began to shout the response themselves. The namedrop is sampled from rapper Jay-Z's song Can't Knock the Hustle. Dope: Adjective. Skillful, inspired. (See also nice; constrast with wack.) E Expose: Verb. Publicly exploit -- on or offstage -- the vulnerability of an opponent. F Flow: Noun. The recognizable cadence with which a rapper delivers his/her lines. G Ghostwrite: Verb. Write the lines of another who is the presumed or credited author. While the practice assumes the mastery of the ghostwriter, performing ghostwritten lines is generally frowned upon in the battle rap community. Gun bar (also gun line): Noun. A bar about guns and related firepower and/or accessories. H I J K L M N Name Flip: Noun. Tactic wherein a battler lampoons his/her opponent's name with witty wordplay. (Example: "That's why you'll never make it big, cuz you're not Juicy, Couture" - O'fficial) '''Nice:' Adjective. Skillful, inspired. (See also dope; contrast with wack.) O P Personal: Noun. A verbal attack highlighting details (often embarrassing) of a rival's offstage life. Promotional (also promo) battle: Noun. A rap battle wherein opponents agree prior to forgo formal judging. Battle rappers might pursue such an arrangement if they fear a loss would sully their record or if an opponent is sufficiently junior to them as to constitute a "step down" in their formal battling trajectory. Prop: 1. noun. A physical accessory, including another person, used to assist execution of one's verse. Incriminating photos of a rival, for example, would be a popular prop. 2. An accolade or point of praise cited in honor of another. Punchline: Noun. A line delivered as the climax to a joke or series of setup bars. Pussy: Adjective. Lacking toughness or courage, used as an insult of one's opponents. (See bitchmade.) Q R Reach: Noun. An excessively forced metaphor, scheme, or wordplay. Reality: Noun. Nonfictionalized offstage life as inspiration for a rap. Rebuttal: Noun. Bars delivered to counter an opponent's comment earlier in the same battle. Given the inability to foresee such comments, rebuttals are often delivered freestyle. Remix: Noun. The repeat of a line in a slightly varied, embellished fashion so as to bolster its impact. (A signature tactic of Hitman Holla.) S Scheme: Noun. An extended measure of bars executed under a particular aesthetic theme or narrative arc. Attacks wherein rappers assume the identity or universe of pop culture or literary figures are popular schemes. Setup: Noun. A series of bars executed as a lead-in to a verbal payoff, or punchline. "Slow it down": Interjection. A cue to rivals and/or the audience to pause and reconsider a bar just delivered. Such reconsideration often unveils hidden wordplay or double meaning. (A signature tactic of Conceited.) Spit: Verb. Deliver a rap. Stumble: Verb. Momentarily lose one's verbal composure. T U V W Wack: Adjective. Unskillful, uninspired. Wordplay. Noun. The witty exploitation of the meaning, ambiguities, sound, composition, rhyme pattern, and layered subtext of words and phrases. X Y Z